By Stephen Ur III –
The New England Revolution met the Philadelphia Union in a Major League Soccer preseason matchup down in Florida on Saturday. The match was the second of the preseason ahead of their Feb. 25 season opener against the expansion franchise Charlotte FC.
The Union scored the first goal of the game in the 36th minute as Daniel Gazdag knocked the ball through the goalie and into the net. The second goal would come in the 71st minute as Jesus Bueno scored on a rebound following a shot by Mikael Uhre.
New England had two chances to score themselves. The first opportunity came in the beginning when Jozy Altidore made a shot that just missed. The second came just before halftime, but was denied by Union goalkeeper Andre Blake.
After two preseason games down in the Florida heat, forward Justin Rennicks and defender Dave Romney were asked about playing in the heat and how it will help them during the regular season.
“The whole reason we came down to Florida was to play in this heat and prepare us for the first game of the season,” Rennicks said. “I thought we had a few great starts, and now it’s just about working. It was our first week here and it’s all looking good.”
“You kind of get used to playing 45, 60, 70 minutes and get used to this heat, which is always tough,” Romney said. “But we’re going to have to be down here in the summers, so just kind of getting acclaimed to that stuff.”
New England’s next preseason game will be played on Friday when they take on Nashville SC in St. Petersburg, FL. The match is set to begin at noon ET and will be played “behind closed doors”.
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